On the 31st of October, 1838, Joseph and a number of his brethren,
all prominent men in the Church, were betrayed by Col. George M.
Hinkle into the hands of the mob militia who had surrounded Far West,
Mo., determined to sack the town. Although Joseph had only been in
Missouri a few months and had not done the least harm to a single
soul there, nearly the whole population of that State, including its
highest officers, both civil and military, had become so exasperated,
through the stream of lies which had been circulated through the
country concerning the Saints and their motives, that they had fully
determined to kill the leaders of the Church; and there were scores in
that mob militia camp to which Joseph and his brethren were brought
that memorable day who would have considered it a great honor to put to
death Joseph and his fellow-prisoners. They knew also that there would
be no danger of them being brought to justice for such a deed, even if
they should assassinate them without orders from any commander. It was
on this occasion that the mobbers cursed and shouted like mad-men and
swore that Joseph and those with him should never see their friends
or families again alive; and to prove that this was not the boast
and threat of the common soldier only, I will refer you to what John
Clark, the head general and commander of the whole militia, said in his
notorious speech which he delivered before the brethren at Far West,
after he had made them prisoners of war. Referring to Joseph and his
fellow prisoners, who then were on the road to Jackson County in the
hands of Gen. Lucas and his army, General Clark said:
"As for your leaders, do not once think--do not imagine for
a moment--do not let it enter your minds, that they will be
delivered, or that you will see their faces again, for their _fate
is fixed_, THEIR DIE IS CAST, THEIR DOOM IS SEALED."
But while, from a human standpoint, it seemed absolutely impossible for
Joseph and his brethren to escape from their enemies alive, Joseph rose
up in the spirit of his prophetic calling, and prophesied that they ALL
should be delivered alive. Parley P. Pratt, one of the prisoners with
Joseph, writes the following:
"As we arose and commenced our march on the morning of the 3rd of
November, Joseph Smith spoke to me and the other prisoners {106}
in a low but cheerful and confidential tone. Said he: 'Be of good
cheer, brethren; the word of the Lord came to me last night that
our lives should be given us, and that whatever we may suffer
during this captivity, not one of our lives should be taken.'
"Of this prophecy I testify in the name of the Lord, and though
spoken in secret, its public fulfilment and the miraculous escape
of each one of us is too notorious to need my testimony."--Parley
P. Pratt's Aut., page 210.
Notwithstanding the fact that they were sentenced on two or three
different occasions to be shot, that several attempts were made to
poison them while incarcerated in filthy dungeons; that forty men at
a certain time and place entered into a conspiracy that they would
neither eat nor drink until they had killed the "Mormon Prophet," all
the brethren in due course of time, escaped from their persecutors and
would-be murderers, and, although they suffered as only few men have
suffered, they arrived safely, and all alive, among their friends in
Illinois. This surely is another proof of Joseph Smith's prophetic
gift, while General Clark at the same time is proven to be a false
prophet.